“We see the future for us being natural gas, energy efficiency, smart-grid activities and renewables,” he said at a Columbus, Ohio, Metropolitan Club program last week in a story reported by Columbus Business First.

AEP, like other power companies, are retiring rather than upgrading coal-burning electrical generation plants. Another Ohio-based company, FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) in Akron, last week closed two southwestern Pennsylvania coal-fired power plants instead of upgrading them.